The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1887-12-17
SHOOTING A LEOPARD.
Exciting But Dangerous Sport in
India.
Running Down "A Child Eater and rfiiifng z
Him at Ills Horrible Feast-Epi-
sOdes of tho Hunt -
IiloOdy Struggle.

an old globe trOttcr to the HerdLd man,
'and the sport they have out there can
not compare with what they have in
tho far East. There is not that elc-
mcnt Of danger in IL which conduces
much TO the enjoyment Of real sport.
OF course, you have the grizzly
but. after all. he is an easy mark To
hit
There are two kinds OF lcOpards in
India. One is tho chectah. the common
leopard Of tho plains Of liindOstan.
This animal confines his attention
chiefly to small antolopcs. barking deer
and jungle sheep lie Is frequently
caught when Young and tanned by the
native shiiarris. who teach him TO as
sist them in hunting aud driving game
within shot of the guns Of the sports
men. The other kind Of Indian
leopard Is tho 'uckabugga. much
largor and ilerccr animal. who, when
he has once tasted human blood.
becomes an Ogre with fright.
ful appetite for children. H. is
chiefly found in the lower ranges Of
the Himalajas and vast junglos Of the
Tcrai
R"Onc summers evening | was Odt
with couple Of friends on n shooting
excursion from Ahnora into Nepal.
Our tents were pitched on the banks of
the X Iln N lddcc. n river which parts
the British possessions in the hills
from those Of the Nopal Ri. We were
getting our guns ready to go out for
some black patridgo5 for supper when
tho head man Of the ncighboring viii
lago came up To entrcat our assistance
in killing leopard which had haunt
cd some ncighboring village for many
months and had already carried of
twelve children. Traps and pitfalls
had been set for him in vain. He had
cvadcd all. A poor Iemendon had
just come into the village with woe
ful story about his siX-year-Old boy
his only boy who. when playing before
the door of his fathers hut in the dust
of the evening. had been seized by the
leopard and carried off before his
fathers eyes. The poor man followed
the animal aud struck it repeatedly
with an iron hoe, but il held on and
vanished in the jungle. At daylight
he had hunted in the track with some
frierda. but found only n few bones
and some bloody hair. remains Of his
child that jnckal was pi cking
nj and vulturc watching. The man
said he had watched tho place every
night, but hail never again seen the
leopard. The recital of the tragedy
excited us, and we pledged ourselves
not to leave the ncighborhood till this
cruel ogre was destroyed Rum Bcx,
our head shikarri. was called and
ordered to make every inquiry as to his
whereabouts, aud To offer u reward of
ten rupees To any native who should
give such information rs would give us
shot nj him.
at would bc endless To relate the
many false alarms we had. We sat
up all night in trees with n goat tied
below IL as bait, near tho place whore
the leopard had last been seen. One
night while sitting in n tree with gun
coolic. who held my weapons. | fell
into a dcz'. A friend in tree about
twenty yards of. with u goat below,
reused me by the discharge of his rifle.
Ny coolic sciz,d me by tho arm and
shrickcd: 'Sahib. Sahib, lackabugga
aya' (Maslcr master the leopard is
hcloD Where. whcrcP asked. sciz-
ing the rifle he held out to me. There.
said he. pointing to dark object NOV
ing through the trees about thirty
yards oil. Bng ng-bang-wcnt both
my barrels, followed Immediately by
mcarthly yclls. We descended
from our trees and found n
largo. rough pariah dog shot through
both hind leg. H. was yelling like n
iicnd and snarping like crocodile. |
borrowed n large Gloorka Kookric
from our shkarri. and barring my
right arm, soon put an end to doggic' 5
squcals.
'Oac of my friends was very fat,
and, rs he found branch Of tree
rather inconvonicnL had n common
native charpoy (Sort of bcdsteaO
fixed up in fork If tree. On this
ho rcclincd with gun coolie and n
large doublc-barrel gun loaded with
slugs. We were tirod of the goat bait,
So we had got monkey thinking n
child-catcr would be more tempted by
its flesh. was posted ina tree from
which could moro readily watch the
approach,s to my friends post About
midnight the moon went down aud it
was almost dark. ii III an hour later
tho monkey chattcrcl. - 1 cooked
both barrels AMI watched the foot of
my friends trlc. The chattcrng in
creased. Then came b,azl of light
aud loud report. followed by the
breaking Of branches aud perfect
babel If noises. had pine torch
with me aud, clambcring down from
the tree. liz IL aud rushed To the spot.
There on his face lay my friend,
screaming out for me. lie had
upset his bead o. his back sat
the monkey tearing his hair like a
wildcat A few yards from him lay
his coolic. with the charpoy on him
smashed in half lie was roaring out:
The leopard Is eating me- A little
further of lay jackal writhing with
n dozen slugs in him. | picked up the
coolio and helped my friend 10y knock
a - "A